The world's oldest and most comprehensive blog on lesbian-themed Japanese cartoons, comics and related media

Kurau Phantom Memory Anime, Volume 3 (English)

April 7th, 2008

Kurau Phantom Memory, Volume 3 is a little like the middle bits of any of the old Doctor Who television series. After the plot had been established, and before the conclusion, there was a lot of running around in corridors and expository discussion, and chasing after companions that had been captured, then freeing them, losing another one, rinse, repeat, etc.

Which is not to say that it’s not enjoyable. I quite like the running around in corridors bits, except I get a little tired of the inevitable screaming the other person’s name 8 million times part that inevitably fills up time and space in an anime.

In the case of Kurau and Christmas, the corridors exist literally – on the Moon, at GPO headquarters. Kurau is there to free Christmas from her captivity. In the middle of all the running around and fighting, we gain a little knowledge – that the GPO knows that the Rynasapiens are, duh, sapient, and that the evil professor who wants to study them really doesn’t care that they are sapient and they feel pain, lonliness, etc. Ayaka helpfully lets us know that in most places Rynax energy isn’t really used or needed anymore, so the reason behind the studies is nothing more than a thin veil over illegal and immoral experiments. Kurau’s Dad gets to meet his “other daughter” and warns Kurau and Christmas not to believe the GPO no matter what they say. And Ayaka starts to, ever so slightly, question her allegiance to The Powers That Be. (Ever since I began rewatching Kurau, I’ve been trying to figure out who Ayaka reminds me of. I just figured it out – she’s this series’ Rimelda, from Madlax.)

Yuri in Kurau remains solely in the eye of the beholder. The relationship between Kurau and Christmas is deep, loving, and can easily be interpretated as sisterly or lover-ly, or even mother-daughter-ly, if you are so inclined. Personally, I believe that the relationship is being handled with the broadest possible strokes on purpose. Ambiguity makes for a bigger audience. If you see them as being “in love,” no doubt you are willing to point out the microscopic details which “prove” that you are correct, if only everyone will listen to you. Likewise, if you insist that they are sisterly, you will also have an arsenal of “proof” for doubters. Frankly, I like the relationship ambiguous. Because this way we can all see what we want to see. As long as we’re willing to admit that we’re making most of it up. :-)

Ayaka’s fixation on Kurau still puzzles me a little. Ayaka is the very typical hardboiled lesbian mystery detective – tragic backstory, hard as nails, impervious to emotion, completely obsessed with the object of the hunt. But in normal lesbian detective stories, the hunted is an actual criminal. Doesn’t Ayaka read lesbian detective stories? She’s after the wrong person…. Ah well. I feel free to make her obsession with Kurau into more than what it is, as well. ^_^

The extras are the same kind of interviews, art and stuff that came with the previous volumes.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Music – 7
Yuri – 1
Service – 1

Overall – 8

Even with the running through corridors and screaming “Christmas!!!!!” a lot, Volume 3 was still pretty good. Thanks go to Ted for sponsoring this review. ^_^

Related

4 Responses

I’m happy to see that you’re still paying attention to Kurau: Phantom Memory, since it gets way too little love out there in my view. Whether Kurau’s relationship with Christmas is Yuri is indeed up to debate. After re-watching the show I’d say that it is though. Why? Well, Christmas and Kurau act like people who have been in a long-lasting relationship already, which makes sense since they obviously had been together as a pair when they were still unattached Rynax entities. Of course, the Rynax-variety of “romance” may not be the same as for human beings, which explains why they usually don’t show typically human displays of affection. Sure, this is very much what I myself read into it all, but I guess that was the maker’s intention from the start

While Kurau and Christmas are humaniod, they’re almost beyond human. As such, I see their love as being beyond that of mother/daughter, sisters, or even lovers. You could focus on any one of these aspects, but no matter which you choose it wouldn’t be enough to fully explain their relationship. It’s just the bond of ‘love’ between them in general, where they complete each other and could never feel they could survive without the other; at least that’s how I look at it. Besides (I hate to bring this up but) Kurau is a young adult and Christmas is more like a 12-year-old (from what I recall); wouldn’t that be considered pedophilia if it was seen as Yuri? Sure, their relationship may also be beyond pedophilia, but still.

I myself have a lot of trouble pinning Christmas’ age down, despite the fact that she’s smaller than Kurau. Sure, in the later episodes she grows up, but earlier on it’s hard to tell, especially since not much is told about the Rynax themselves or how old they are. They could be thousands of years old, for all we know. But this information is likely withheld on purpose, so everybody can me up his/her own story.

haha! this makes me laugh. not in the bad way, but just your way of describing the characters’ relationships with one another. i’ve found this anime much later than when it was broadcast, but thank god for streaming vids eh? i especially like your take on ayaka and kurau’s relationship as you say ayaka is the epitome of the hard-ass lesbian with more than a few chips on her shoulder. personally i would love for ayaka and kurau to get together but then again, it’s all in the beholder’s eye ;)

Leave a Reply

Erica Friedman is the Founder of Yuricon, ALC Publishing and Yurikon LLC, Social Media Without Delusion. LGBTQ and Geek Marketing Consultant. Proud to be a MLS.
Learn more >>

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Please do not email or comment asking for or posting links to scanlations or fansubs. Okazu readers overwhelmingly support the artists, writers and publishers of Yuri by buying anime and manga series in English and Japanese.

In addition, any comment that contains the word "objective" or "objectivity" is subject to rejection. This is a review blog - it's all personal opinions, all the time. Mine and yours.